In this Monday, April 2, 2012 a prosthetic limb is seen as Bosnia's national sitting volleyball team train in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Bosnia's national sitting volleyball team is made of war victims who turned their tragedy into gold medals at international competitions for people with physical disabilities. They are stars fans welcome at the airport upon return from some new international victory. Up until two decades ago, generations of Bosnians worshipped tall and handsome basketball players. Now, 20 years after the bloody Bosnian war erupted, the new stars are also tall and handsome, but they crawl up and down the floor to catch the ball. Most miss a limb. (AP Photo/Amel Emric)

Hardly anyone had heard of the Paralympics back then.

Now, 20 years after the bloody Bosnian war erupted, the country’s new athletic stars are also tall and muscular, but many are missing a limb.

Bosnia’s national men’s sitting volleyball team is made up of war victims who have turned their personal tragedies into gold medals at international competitions for people with physical disabilities.

They are stars that fans welcome at the airport now.

“Some see us as such,” admitted 42-year-old Asim Medic, who says it feels good to be recognized on the street.

Sarajevo’s basketball players were once Bosnia’s stars, especially after a local club Bosna Sarajevo became European champion in 1979. Not now.

Back in 1993, Medic was 23 when one of the hundreds of thousands of artillery shells that landed on Sarajevo ripped his leg off. It felt like the end of his life, but part of the rehabilitation doctors recommended was playing sports to fight off depression.

The anti-depression sessions turned into serious training, and the rising number of war victims created so many sitting volleyball clubs in Bosnia that leagues could be formed.

In 1997, two years after the shooting stopped, the men’s national team won its first medal – bronze at the European Championship. Then bronze again at the next World Championship in Iran and finally gold in 1999 at the European Championship in Sarajevo.

From then on, it’s been rarely anything else but gold.

The team plans to compete in the London Paralympics from Aug. 29-Sept. 9.

“We managed to inspire many people with this problem and made sure they are not left on the street to go on drugs and everything else the street brings,” Medic said.